Recycling
by onlyonechairleft
Summary: Oneshot. Set before Chris' Wiccaning, a welcome visitor has some interesting news for the family.


Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. But if anyone has Drew Fuller's number, I'd like that. ;)

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"What are you telling me Leo?" Piper, gripping Phoebe's hand with one of hers and holding her baby to her chest with her other, sounded... tense. The morning of Christopher's Wiccaning had the whole family a little on edge. Her husband sighed and sat down next to Paige on the sofa.

"I'm saying that they won't let her come down Piper. They say that it's too soon, still. But Grams will be there, with the rest of the Matriarchs. And Prue wouldn't be able to bless him as a matriarch anyway sweetie." That was the wrong move, Paige could tell. She had already decided to stay quiet for this one, playing cars with Wyatt instead of getting involved. She'd never known her eldest sister, so she really couldn't contribute.

"Prue could bless him as his aunt, Leo. As my sister. My best friend. How long can they keep doing this? I know shes dead, I know shes not coming back. Why won't they let her come from Chris' Wiccaning? Surely _he's_ earned that." A look of pain crossed Leo's features and Phoebe hissed a little, picking up on his grief and her own.

"Low blow Piper. This isn't about Chris, not really- it's about you and me, and how much we still miss her; how will still half-expect to find her in the darkroom, or to hear the Porsche pull up in the driveway. That's not their fault." Piper could hear the tears in Phoebe's voice, she didn't need to be an empath for that, but her anger was too raw for her to listen to reason. Not right then, anyway. Her sisters knew that, too.

"I don't care Pheebs!" Her sharp tone woke her son, who opened his green eyes to blink at her, wondering why Mom was so angry, so upset. "I just lost my son, and I want my sister here because Prue was always able to fix these things and I just want her to..." Her voice broke and the tears came. "... I just want her. Is that so wrong?" Phoebe broke then too, tears pooling in her eyes as her grief for Chris- big Chris- combined with her lingering hurt over Prue's death, and together they sobbed. Little Chris yawned and went back to sleep.

The third remaining Halliwell sister felt undeniably awkward, so she orbed quietly to the attic with Wyatt. She couldn't cry for a sister she never knew and she couldn't comfort the ones she had left, either. Not really comfort them, anyway, when what they mourned was something she couldn't ever share- a lifetimes worth of memories that she had no part of.

In the attic, she dropped Wyatt into his playpen, and turned to the summoning circle. While she was here, she might as well do something useful, and summon Grams and her mother.

Carefully, and taking more time than she would normally, Paige arranged the candles and lit the circle. Wyatt, arms up in the air in the universal small child demand for attention, was picked up again before she moved to the podium and the book.

"Hear my words, Hear my cry,

Spirit from the other side,

Come to me, I call to thee,

Cross now the great divide."

Wyatt giggled at the white lights and clapped his hands as they coalesced into the shape of a -somewhat familiar- woman.

Raven-coloured hair covering her eyes, pale skin and bright blue eyes that met Paige's with a smile.

"Blessed be, little sister." And Prudence Halliwell, eldest born of the eldest born of the eldest born, stepped out of the circle and solidified.

"I, uh... I'll get Piper and Phoebe." Paige moved to leave, but found her eldest, deceased, sister standing in front of her, blocking the path to the door.

"I'm not here to see them Paige. I can't. So I came to meet you. And Wyatt." She smiled down at the small boy in Paige's arms, who giggled and clapped again. "And Chris, too, id you can tear him away from his mother for a minute or two." Prue reached out and took Wyatt into her arms, before taking one of Paige's hands in hers and leading her to the sofa.

"Aren't you just the cutest kid? Piper did good. I suppose some of it is down to Leo, but you're a Halliwell through and through, aren't you Wy?" Prue glanced up at a shell-shocked and speechless Paige, and grinned. "It's good to meet you, finally. I'm only sorry I couldn't come sooner. I would have liked to be your sister growing up, you know." She smirked. "I'm sure Phoebe would agree with me when I say that I could always have used another sibling to push around." Paige half-smiled, but didn't meet Prue's gaze.

"I remember you, did you know that?" That caught the witchlighter's attention. "I didn't when I was alive- Mom cast a spell to make me forget. But I was there when you were born and I was at your Wiccaning. You were a beautiful baby, Paige, and I was so happy to have another sister. I'm so glad you found them again- you've kept them going, kept them alive, for years." She paused and Paige finally looked up to meet her eyes. "Thank you." And her littlest sister broke, tears in her eyes and streaming down her face. Prue pulled the girl into an awkward embrace and listened as her sister apologised and cried and sobbed her way through the story about Chris and how he died and how she couldn't do anything, and how much she missed him.

"It's okay baby, you're allowed to miss him. It's not wrong to grieve, you know? He's not really dead, but he did die and he is, sort of, gone forever." Prue paused, "You won't see that Chris again for twenty years and even then he won't be the same man. But that's what he wanted- that's what he risked. I understand sacrificing yourself for a sibling, I've done it myself. I'm just glad that Chris gets to live the life he fought for, finally. So, you be good to him and love him and grieve for the man he could have been."

They were silent for a minute, and then Paige moved off her sister's shoulder, wiping her eyes on her shirt-sleeve.

"So hes not Up There then? He's definitely little Chris?" Prue grinned and nodded.

"He definitely is. I checked myself." They stayed like that for a while, talking quietly and getting to know one another, with Paige promising to pass on a message to their sisters. It wasn't long though, before Prue tilted her head to one side, listening intently. "They're coming for me Paige, I can't stay much longer." Prue handed the small boy to his other aunt, and leaned over to look him in the eye. "Be good Wyatt. Be strong, where power isn't enough." And she hugged her little sister, "It was wonderful to meet you Paige. Call me again sometime?" And she winked, stood up and made her way back to the candles.

"Prue?" Paige's call made her sister look back. "Piper was right when she said that you really do make things better. Thank you." Hugging Wyatt to her chest, Paige wiped her eyes again.

"Take care of them for me? I may never see them Paige, so I'm counting on you."

"See you, sister. Say bye-bye Wyatt." She helped her nephew to wave, and Prudence Halliwell disappeared again in a shower of glittering orbs.

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Quietly, Paige walked down the stairs, holding Wyatt close to her chest and listening for any sounds of fighting in the living room. It sounded calmer, at least, although voices could still be heard.

She saw Piper and Phoebe curled together on the sofa this time, and Leo with Chris opposite.

The tears had stopped, but Piper was still arguing her case.

"It's been long enough Leo! She should be here for this- she should be at least able to meet her nephews!" Piper turned, hearing her youngest sister's entrance, and her eyes narrowed,

"Hey sweetie, where have you been?"

The youngest Halliwell sister smiled, depositing Wyatt with his blocks.

"I was upstairs, in the attic. I tried to summon Grams and Patty for the Wiccaning, but someone else came instead." She took a deep breath- this was going to get interesting. "Prue said that she's sorry she can't be here, but that she loves you both very much and that she's watching out for you always." Okay, so she was paraphrasing, just a little. Phoebe gasped and bolted upright, almost knocking a shocked Piper to the ground.

"Is she? Did she- Is she gone?" The hope in her eyes faded as Paige nodded.

"But she has two messages- firstly, that Big Chris is, without a doubt, little Chris. His soul went straight into his baby self, so we are to stop worrying. Apparently, he might learn things a little faster than other kids- sense memory or something- but he shouldn't remember the specifics. Prue suggests that you teach him to play piano, because he never learned that the first time round- to keep him grounded, she says." She paused again, worried about what would be the _big_ announcement. "She also asked me to tell you that's she's going to be recycled very soon- and that because Chris' soul isn't just anybody's soul, that we're going to have to take very good care of him until she's able to do it herself." Paige made a face, "I'll admit I haven't got a clue what that means." She shrugged, and sat down, waiting for an explanation, and glad to see the small smiles on Phoebe and Piper's faces. The elder sisters glanced at one another, and moved over to Chris.

"It would kind of explain a lot, wouldn't it?" Phoebe asked, "It's not like there were any male Halliwells before Wyatt, so they would have had to choose someone close to family to join our circle." Piper nodded, wiping away another tear.

"Unfortunately, this means that the martyr complex is in-built into the soul, not something that he's going to pick up." Leo looked at the mother of his children, eyes clouded in confusion, but

it was Paige who took the leap and asked the question.

"Will one of you please explain what is going on?" Phoebe grinned, a little sadly, and said,

"When Prue was very little, her best friend in the whole world was a bout named Andy who lived down the street. They were inseparable until they were eighteen and Grams... well, she separated them, refusing to let Prue go away to college. He died, trying to save us- to save her- and she was never really the same after that." She smiled wider, stroking the top of her nephew's head with one hand. "Despite everything though, it seems like he finally got to be family."

Leo looked astounded- wondering, no doubt, how he hadn't known about this.

"And by the sounds of it, Prue's coming back too- well, getting born, to come back with him." Piper sounded remarkably cheerful. "It's a little weird, but she's better than Bianca."

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